Child stardom impacts different celebrities in different ways, and now Selena Gomez is getting candid about the point in her career when she started to feel less comfortable with being famous.

“I started getting known for things that weren’t my work,” she told Business of Fashion in a new interview. “That’s when my passion started to really feel like it was going further and further away. And that scared me.”

Selena recalled the paparazzi being the cause of her initial discomfort.

“I remember just feeling really violated when I was younger, even just being on the beach. I was maybe 15 or 16 and people were taking pictures – photographers,” she remembered. “I felt very violated and I didn’t like it or understand it, and that felt very weird, because I was a young girl and they were grown men. I didn’t like that feeling.”

15 is a vulnerable, transitional age for those of us who aren’t celebrities, so we can only imagine what that was like for her. We’re glad she is doing so much better — and taking control of the spotlight — now!